Fortune's Hostage
by RobertDogwood
Summary: Squall, Irvine and Zell are sent on a mission to Trabia for Deling City, while Rinoa sits and worries.
1. Default Chapter

500.html 

Fortune's Hostage

By RobertDogwood@aol.com

Graciously Edited by Zachere

Final Fantasy VIII characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.

Original characters, locations and plot Copyright RobertDogwood 2002

I would like to thank the great writer Raine Ishida for her most generous permission to use her   
character of Mina in this story. Please check out her writings immediately.

Rated R

Chapter One

Squall stood beside Zell impatiently outside an ornate mahogany door in the Galbadian Embassy in Trabia. As the dark-haired man watched Zell standing poised on the balls of his feet, Squall realized there was no one who he trusted more in a fight than the excitable blond-haired man.

Squall stood in the interior of the ornate Embassy, the spacious hallways, marbled floors, famous classical paintings hanging from the walls and high ceiling chandeliers, and realized that his overriding emotions were conveying the tinges of tragedy to him. Squall wasn't superstitious, but he didn't like it. The Commander gave himself a slight shake to try to rid himself of the unwanted feelings. This was Rinoa's thing, precognition; not his, but he assumed it was so quiet because they were all already dead.

Shivering slightly in the cold of the dawn, as the power and heat had been cut off in the building in a failed attempt to force the abductors out into the cold Trabian winter, Squall thought, _ It's now or never, _ and nodded slightly at Zell.

When the young blond SeeD lowered his shoulder to crash through the heavy door, Squall quickly positioned himself behind in order to have an unimpeded view of the entire room once the door was brought down. The tactiturn young man stood with Lionheart drawn and held in his right hand. He watched coolly as Zell successfully battered the door down.

Moving quickly, the two SeeDs raced through the now unprotected doorway and into the next room, with Squall taking the entire room in with a single glance.

* * *

It all began twenty-four hours earlier when Rinoa awoke to hear the intercom crying out for Squall.

_ Oh Great Hyne! _ The ebony-haired beauty thought. _ Now what? It's not even daylight out yet. _

Fighting off her sudden presentiment of extreme tragedy, Rinoa gently shook her lover's shoulder from where she lay next to him on his narrow bed.

"Squall?" the young woman softly inquired.

"What?" he mumbled irritably, his face buried in his pillow.

"They're calling you to Cid's office," the ebony-haired beauty answered.

"Crap," he softly replied, while rolling over and sitting up, the sheet dropping from his bare chest.

Watching as her beloved arose from the bed and began to search through their scattered clothing from the night before, Rinoa experienced the same thrill she always did when she spied the handsome young man in the nude.

_ I love you so much it hurts sometimes. _

Glancing at the bedside alarm clock, the young woman noticed it was only 6:15. _ What could be so important that it had Cid paging Squall before 6:30? _

Again the brown-eyed woman had a sudden intuition of impending doom, which sent a slight shudder through her body. _ What's wrong with me? Is something bad gonna happen or is it just because I'm-. _

After completing his dressing, Squall leaned down and gently kissed his love on her lips, interrupting her train of thought.

Standing up, the dark-haired man spoke, "Catch you later." He smiled slightly and turned toward the door of the small bedroom.

"Come see me, if you have to leave on assignment. I have something important to tell you," the hazel-eyed young woman called out.

Squall paused and turned in the doorway. "I will if I can."

The beautiful young woman lay back down and snuggled under the blankets in the still chilly early morning.

_ Maybe I should have told him last night - but he was so relaxed for a change. And really, I don't know anything for sure yet. Why should I worry him needlessly? If he does come back telling me they're sending him somewhere, maybe I'll just make something up. I don't want to send him out on a possibly dangerous mission with his mind preoccupied with something that might not even be true. _

And was so thinking when she drifted back into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The halls and corridors of the pre-reveille Garden were almost completely deserted of SeeDs and upper-classmen. No one was up yet except for the dining room and kitchen staff and the midnight to eight shift of SeeDs and upper-classmen.

As Squall strode quickly through the semi-darkened corridors and hallways and around the circular pool to the elevators, he attempted to recall what his agenda was for the day.

_ Let's see - what do I have to do if they send me somewhere? I've got to leave Kristen a note to cancel all my appointments. Oh, yeah. I need to remember to ask Xu to meet with that representative from Winhill and someone will have to meet with the disciplinary committee. _

Stepping into the elevator, Squall punched the third floor button. A sudden vision of how fetching Rinoa had appeared despite having just awakened in the early morning flashed through his mind.

_ I wonder what she wanted to tell me. It seemed important. _

Squall shook his head slightly to clear his mind of any thoughts that were not presently oriented to the task at hand. The elevator doors closed.

* * *

Cid stood expressionless behind his desk in his third floor office, while Zell stood in front of the back wall and Irvine slouched against the near wall. The Headmaster was speaking. "I'm certain you two are anxious to know what your current assignment will be, but we really should wait for Squall to report, so I don't have to repeat this more than once."

As Zell fidgeted, Irvine nodded almost imperceptibly in agreement. The tall man noticed that the older man appeared much more worried than usual.

_ I hope I'm doing the right thing, _ Cid thought. _ It's probably unethical to involve the Garden in this, but what can I do? I can't do it by myself. It's simple - we're here to make money. They're offering money. Oh Hyne! It's not simple - it's blood. _

As the Headmaster stood and endlessly ruminated, the elevator doors opened and the Commander stepped out. He noticed immediately that Cid appeared extremely anxious.

When the dark-haired man exited the elevator, Cid explained, "Time is of the essence. That's why I was forced to call the three of you so early."

_ What's going on? _ Squall questioned to himself, while keeping his facial expression completely emotionless.

"What the hell's going on, Cid!" Zell demanded, while Irvine laughed softly and slumped against the wall.

_ Zell, calm down, _ thought the Commander.

Zell clenched and unclenched his fists several times, remaining silent with the appearance of one who was using a great deal of effort to do so.

From his vantage point of the near wall, Irvine laughed softly again at the spectacle of Zell squared off as if to fight the Headmaster.

Cid held the complete attention of the three young men for the next few minutes. "I was contacted by the Galbadian government via Deling City at approximately two hundred hours concerning a possible assignment and contract if we so desired. The task is a difficult one and fraught with peril for approximately forty hostages in the City of Trabia, who are mostly Galbadian citizens working in the Galbadian embassy there. They have been kidnapped by a group of urban guerrillas who fancy themselves as 'Freedom Now.' We have been led to believe that one of the forty is a small child - a young boy, who was brought to work by his mother because her babysitter was ill."

There Headmaster Cid's voice cracked and he fell silent momentarily. Squall glanced shrewdly at his immediate superior.

_ Since when did you care that much about kids? Something's missing here. _

After a few seconds, Cid began again. "The terrorists want Deling City to release a number of their compatriots from the D-District Prison in exchange for safe passage for those people who were abducted."

Cid took a deep breath. "Naturally enough, this isn't going to happen. Galbadia won't be blackmailed into releasing prisoners by anyone under any conditions in exchange for anyone - even their president."

"Our job is simple - get those innocent people to freedom before 'Freedom Now' figures out that Deling isn't going to deal and gets it into their heads to kill everyone as a statement. That's it in a nutshell. Any questions?"

As Cid stood waiting, he thought to himself. _ I hope I'm doing the right thing - risking our finest for something that's extremely high risk at best. But what else can I do? Just leave them to die? Without even trying? However could I hope to live with that for the rest of my life? _

Squall wondered, _ What is going on here? There's something missing. Why would we be helping Deling City? Hostages or not. They have their own forces. Why would they need us? _

The young man stared at the Headmaster's rather apprehensive appearing face, as if he were attempting to divine Cid's thought processes.

Zell exclaimed excitedly, "Why are we cooperating with the Galbadian govenment, Headmaster?" _ And this better be good. _

Cid sighed audibly and began to explain patiently as if to a small child. "Zell, the purpose of the Garden is carry out missions for clients and make money."

_ Oh, come off it, _ the blond Seed thought bitterly. _ Since when do we work for Deling City? _

_ Working for Galbadia? _ Squall thought.

Still lounging against the wall, Irvine mused of his two cohorts, _ Look at the two of them. They think they're so different from each other, but they're just the same - one inside and one outside. What's the difference why we're going? It still comes out to the same thing. Let's just go. _

"Since when do we accept dirty money from Deling?" remonstrated the excitable Seed.

Cid flushed intensely, coughed twice into his hand and stammered, "I - There are things here you don't understand." _ Maybe I should have chosen someone else. Quistis could have handled this. _

"Then tell us," Zell appealed plaintively.

The Commander thought, while nodding at Zell. _ Why the secrecy? What he is setting us up for? Doesn't he trust me after all we've been through?_

Irvine noticed that Zell had relaxed somewhat after the signal from Squall. Standing erect by slightly pushing himself off the wall he was relaxing against, Irvine interceded. "Hey, hey, fellows. Let's just get on with it."

Noticing that Zell had unclenched his fists and relaxed almost imperceptibly, Cid slightly nodded his thanks at Irvine.

"You have your assignment. Selphie is waiting to transport you in the Ragnarok."

Cid offered the SeeD salute in his awkard manner, and as Squall and Zell returned it, he thought, _ Why don't they just go and let me be? _

As the three young men quickly exited Cid's office, Irvine glanced back and observed Cid seated at his desk with his head buried in his hands. _ Poor man, _ the erstwhile cowboy thought.

* * *

As Squall trudged through the front gate with his small carry-on bag, into which he had haphazardly thrown some personal items a few moments before, the first thing he noticed was that the sun was just beginning to peek out from the horizon. The second thing he noticed was Zell standing at the boarding ramp of the Ragnarok talking with his girlfriend, Mina - the girl from the library.

_ Oh, sweet Hyne! I forgot to go back and say goodbye to Rinoa. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. She'll understand...I hope. Maybe we'll be back quick. _

Squall stepped through the back door of the Ragnarok, following Zell and Irvine, who had already entered.

* * *

Now rapidly approaching the Trabia Airfield, Selphie identified the Ragnarok and asked for detailed instructions and permission to land. After a few minutes, the tower asked how much fuel they were in possession of and, after having received an answer that apparently satisfied them, they instructed the Ragnorok to remin in a holding pattern for a few minutes more.

"Oh, for Shiva's sake!" whined Selphie.

"Selphie, calm down, it'll be okay," soothed Irvine from behind the pilot's chair.

Selphie reached back and gripped Irvine's hand, squeezing it and offering a quick smile.

Zell turned to Squall. "What's going on? Weren't they expecting us?"

"I think" the Commander answered, "they don't want to acknowledge we're here, so they can't allow us to land in public."

And that's exactly as it turned out. A short time later, they were directed completely away from the main Trabia airport and redirected to the old one that was first built by the mine owners to better transport the diamonds they were taking out of the ground in record amounts at the time.

Stepping out of the Ragnarok with Squall and Irvine after Selphie had smoothly landed, Zell glanced around at the all too obvious evidence of the strip mining that had thoughtlessly and greedily ruined the environment here for generations to come.

Selphie piloted the Ragnarok immediately back off the ground and headed back to the Garden, as per instructions given to her as part of the flight plan.

"Oh, man! This is primitive," Zell complained.

"So what?" Irvine retorted. "We're not gonna live here."

As Zell quickly turned to reply angrily with some biting comment to Irvine, he had occasion to observe the expression on their Commander's features and had second thoughts about becoming involved in trading insults with Irvine at that particular time.

"My name is Robert Wilson and I'm here to assist you in any way that I can," spoke a light-brown haired man of average height, who had apparently just exited the wooden shed that appeared to be the only thing left besides the ruined ground.

As the man held out his hand to shake, Zell quickly rubbed his right hand on his blue shorts and stepped forward and shook the newcomer's hand, because if given a choice no one ever chose to shake his hand, a fact which was gleefully pointed out by Irvine from time to time.

"I suppose you're wondering why we've met here?" Wilson asked.

"I don't particularly care one way or the other," Squall responded harshly. "Just get on with the briefing."

Irvine stood with his head cocked slightly, watching the interaction. He understood immediately that Squall was being purposefully rude. _ Squall's just full of tricks, isn't he? He's hoping Wilson will get flustered and give something away that could help us. _

The man who called himself Robert Wilson flushed, but made no other acknowledgement of Squall's discourteous manner. "Just how much do you already know?" the brown-haired man questioned.

Squall made a practically imperceptible move toward Zell with his right hand. Zell stepped slightly forward. "Suppose you just tell us everything you know?"

I'm only trying to save you some time," Wilson whined, his facade beginning to show cracks.

Squall glanced at Irvine, who responded, "You don't tell us everything you know now, it could hurt us badly later."

Wilson gave in with a sigh, understanding that he was facing a united front.

"Okay, okay," he muttered. "As you probably already know, Galbadia's power is stretched too thin. We're in every major country of the world, if not in control, then at least with an embassy that comes attached with a great deal of financial aid and some other goodies, such as reduced tariffs if they decide to play ball out way."

_ I'm beginning to think we asked for too much information, _ thought Zell as he scowled at the man.

Wilson, noticing Zell's expression, began speaking at a slightly increased tempo. "Now something like this happening - this group of nuts managing to kidnap a group of Galbadian citizens and holding them for ransom - this makes us look bad all over the world. Worse than that, it makes us look as if we've lost control. And that could cause some other factions to come after us. We can't afford that! Not now. Not ever."

"Okay," Squall challenged. "Enough is enough! Cut to the chase."

The Galbadian flushed, but continued. "The terrorists must have been already waiting inside the building when the first people arrived for work yesterday morning."

"They've already been in there for almost twenty-four hours and you haven't done anything?" Zell accused.

Futher fissures began to show in the man's veneer. "Who are you to judge us? We've acted in good faith," the man quickly and loudly justified.

"Good faith!" Zell snorted.

Irvine realized this was part of the act also - good-cop, bad-cop. _ They've done this so many times it's second nature to them. _

Squall stepped forward. "Okay, now's that enough, Zell," he said in an harsh voice.

The Commander now turned toward the visibly shaken Galbadian representative. "I'm so sorry. I must apologize for the over exuberance of my charge. You were explaining why you didn't attempt to meet the terrorist's demands."

The man had difficulty meeting Squall's eyes. Instead he chose to look slightly beyond him. "We weren't certain what to do initially," his voice faltered.

"Bull shit!" Zell expostulated.

"Okay, okay," Wilson snapped, his voice giving in to more than a little frustration. "Of course, we're not giving in to their demands of releasing their compatriots from D-District Prison. We can't afford to do that for too many different reasons to bother going into right here."

_ But that still doesn't explain why they waited so long to call us or go in themselves, _ the Commander thought to himself.

Feeling that the negotiating period was over, and that no more information was going to be learned that day, Irvine stepped forward suddenly, startling Robert Wilson more than a small amount, for the brown-haired man flinched noticeably.

"Okay, what do you have for us?" Irvine asked in a reasonable tone of voice.

Wilson quickly answered, "Carte blanche, basically. Whatever you need - whatever you want. I have a suite of rooms reserved for you at the Trabia Astoria with color TV in every room, five bathrooms and unlimited room service."

Squall's face flushed crimson. _ They're treating us like pimps! _

The tall cowboy noticed the Commander's angry expression and quickly covered, "No, thanks. We'll find our own lodging. What I meant was what do you have for us in terms of intelligence?"

The Galbadian again appeared extremely startled at this question of Irvine's.

"Um, not a whole lot other than what I've already told you. Of course, we are more than willing to keep trying, if that's what you need."

"What we _ need _ is your heartfelt assurance," explained Squall, "that you will back us in all our attempts to negotiate with 'Freedom Now.'"

Robert Wilson couldn't have appeared more shocked if the commander had suddenly grown a horn in the center of his forehead or gone stark raving mad - which in his opinion Squall had just done.

"Of course we will," the Galbadian murmured, while wiping some perspiration from his forehead despite the extremely cold temperature. "Come," he directed. "Our transporation is waiting over here." 


	2. Fortune's Hostage - Chapter Two

Fortune's Hostage

By ADogwood

Final Fantasy VIII characters and locations from said game are owned by Squaresoft.

Original characters, locations and plot Copyright Robertdogwood 2002

Chapter Two

Rinoa sat nervously on the edge of the bed in one of the clinic rooms. The doctor had requested the ebony-haired woman to find an empty room, remove all her clothing and put on a hosptial gown, all of which Rinoa had fulfilled plus she had already participated in the necessary testing. She was now waiting anxiously for the doctor to apprise her of the results. Rinoa had asked both Selphie and Quistis if they could accompany her to the medical appointment, but they each had prior commitments and there was no one else Rinoa trusted with this information.

_ Oh, I so hope it's good news. But good news for who? Me? Or Squall? Or...? _ Rinoa's mind was still aflutter with flying thoughts, when Dr. Kadowaki entered the small room holding a file of papers. Rinoa unconsciously held her breath, when the doctor began to speak.

* * *

An hour later Irvine, Zell and Squall were safely ensconced in an adequate, but certainly not luxurious in any manner, hotel room. The ride back to Trabia in the land rover had been long, very bumpy, and slow. One good thing that came out of that experience was it allowed Squall some time to ruminate on the present situation and what the various outcomes might be of the different tactics he could choose.

Once settled in the hotel room, Irvine turned to the commander and questioned, "What now?" Before Squall could explain, Zell interrupted, "Now we go get some lunch, don't we Squall?"

The tall cowboy retorted, "I think the lives of these people is a little more important, Zell, then if you have to skip a meal or not."

Zell flushed and began to reply, when their leader riposted, in a harsh voice, "The both of you, knock it off! We have enough problems as it is, without you two acting as though you're cadets again."

Both young men simultaneously ducked their heads, and muttered an apology. They were both ashamed to be caught behaving in a manner that caused them to be called down for it, thereby making Squall's duties even more demanding. In their own way, both of them thought the world of Squall and hated it when their behavior disturbed him.

"To answer your questions," the dark-haired man spoke, nodding at both Irvine and Zell. "I think we should split up and go out into Trabia and see what we can discover that might help us in our assignment. I particularly don't trust that Robert Wilson."

"Yeah, right on!" Zell exclaimed, while pounding his right fist into his left hand. "I don't either."

Standing right beside the excitable young man, Squall winced. Zell's exuberance usually set his back teeth on edge, but for the present he would tolerate it. The commander realized he needed Zell at his best during this assignment and part of that was allowing him his emotional peccadilloes.

Irving, watching the two young men closely, laughed to see such sport. _ They're so symbiotic and they never realize it. One of them minus the other is only half a person. I hope they never discover that. _

"So what's this about lunch, Squall?" Zell spoke.

'We can all get something individually, when we're out if we want. But don't forget to save your receipts for your expense sheet," the dark-haired man explained. "And be careful," he cautioned, "and be back here by dark. We supposedly only have until tonight to attempt to negotiate with the terrorists."

* * *

As Irvine initially strolled around the gritty industrial city of Trabia, he naturally noticed the extreme degree of cold. _ And this is the heat of the day and in the summer, too! _ he thought. _ I wonder what the winters are like and why anyone would choose to live here? _

When he reached the inner most part of the city, he began to notice the effects of the rampant unemployment that was due to many of the mines being totally played out and closed down. There were out of work men lounging anywhere they could find.

_ No wonder a radical dissident group developed here, _ Irvine realized and he wasn't surprised to discover that Galbadia had been blamed, because it was primarily their doing from beginning to end. They invaded economically and had destroyed a natural resource in a very short time that should have lasted decades with some foresight and intelligence.

But the final straw had been _ The Silverado, _ a silver mine that few people knew the particulars of since it had been located in the very far interior of the country, but it had apparently collapsed bringing sudden death to many, but also financial rack and ruin to many more.

Deciding to visit the best place he knew of to glean information, Irvine entered the corner bar and secured himself a seat on a stool at the counter. Apparently from the sign over the bar, it was called _ Krusty's _ and he didn't understand the significance of that name, unless it was that the bartender resembled Moe.

"What'll you have?" Moe tediously asked.

"Beer," was Irvine's even more unimaginative reply.

After a few moments of Irvine just sitting quietly and sipping his beer, the bartender glanced over and asked, "Where you from? You don't look like you're from around here."

Irvine realized if he just came in and minded his own business, that someone would eventually strike up a conversation with him. But if he were to do it himself, everybody in the bar would instantly fall silent and remain that way.

"Balamb," the cowboy answered.

After a few minutes had passed, the bartender responded, "Balamb, eh? Man, you're a long way from home."

"Yeah," Irvine replied, baiting the hook. "I came up looking for work, but there doesn't seem to be any."

"That's dead right, man," a tallish, stringy looking man, who was sitting to Irvine's right, agreed. "No work at all. If I were you, I'd go back home."

"What happened?" the long haired man wondered.

A man on Irvine's left spoke this time. He appeared to be about fifty years old and looked as if life had not treated him kindly. "Well, that silver mine was going great guns and everybody was making money hand over fist, when the owners got greedy and opened another section of the mine against recommended geological advice."

"Yup," chimed in the bartender. "And this time the geologists were right. The new shaft flooded completely and the entire mine is now inoperable. It would cost way too much to attempt to keep pumping the water out."

Irvine nodded and sipped his beer. He waited a minute or two, so as to not appear inordinately curious, and then casually asked, "By the way, who owns the mine?"

"A guy by the name of Robert Wilson," answered the bartender. "I hear he's from Galbadia, Of course that's nothing new around here, half the city's from Galbadia."

"And his brother - what's his name - owns it with him," added the man on Irvine's right.

"Listen to this," the bartender spoke conspiratorially, waving his three customers close to him so he wouldn't have to raise his voice. "I heard that his brother was one of the people kidnapped by 'Freedom Now' and is being held for some kind of ransom. I think it's got something to do with that mine."

Irvine kept his face perfectly neutral, as he received this startling bit of information concerning their assignment. The would be cowboy now realized that Robert Wilson was mired up to his ass in this kidnapping fiasco somehow and that further investigation was warranted.

Irvine bought his bar mates, including the bartender, another round of beer and after finishing his, he informed them he thought he'd mosey down to unemployment and see what they had to offer him in terms of a possible job. His new _ friends _ wished him luck and replied they hoped they'd see him again.

_ Sure they do, _ Irvine thought cynically, as he left the establishment. _ That's 'cause I bought 'em a beer. _

Instead of the aforementioned unemployment services, the would be cowboy investigator traveled to _ The Trabia Enquirer _ building and spent the rest of the afternoon perusing old issues of the town's only newspaper. Irvine completed his task by dusk and, as per Squall's insructions, he hurried back to the hotel.

* * *

Since each of the three young operatives acted accordingly that afternoon as to their individual proclivities, the initial activity that Zell explored was discovering if there was a worthwhile establishment for the serving of hot dogs.

This less than admirable enterprise, considering the life and death plight of the hostages, took Zell over an hour to complete. Surely the restaurant was not of the highest social order as Zell appeared to be surrounded by every type of roughneck known to mankind, although it did seem to be clean and to take its business of serving hot dogs to the public quite seriously.

In the short while that Zell had been there, three fights had broken out around him, although they were handled rather quickly and he did not have to trouble himself to do anything but continue to partake of his cuisine. Zell had already eaten four hot dogs and his plate was still stacked high. As the exciteable SeeD ate, he allowed his thoughts to drift back to Garden and his extraordinary girlfriend, Mina. She was quite lovely with a wonderful figure and a pair of beautifully shaped, but very strong, dancer legs, fore Mina was a dancer; and a very dedicated and talented one too. Zell never could quite understand what Mina saw in him, but whatever it was, he surely hoped she continued seeing it. He found himself wishing she were with him right now on this assignment, because she instinctively would know the correct thing to do next, and Zell admitted to himself ruefully that he didn't have a clue.

After paying his lunch bill and remembering to save his receipt as directed by Squall, the blond SeeD wandered out into Trabia and began to aimlessly drift across town, while attempting to just remain open to anything that he might come to.

Just as Zell entered the more affluent business district, something happened around him, just by the merest fluke, which ended up leading him to an important discovery. He was turning the corner of the _ Bank of Trabia, _ the largest and most important by far monetary institution in the city, when he observed a well dressed older man being accosted by two Galbadian soldiers. Something about the entire situation caused Zell's blood to boil; quite possibly it was seeing Galbadian soldiers, still acting as if they were running things when they were actually far away from their home.

Zell couldn't quite hear what they were accusing the man of, but he felt as though he didn't need to. He could tell the older gentleman, who was wearing a tasteful three piece suit and carrying a brief case, either worked for the bank or was going in to conduct some banking business so that it was highly unlikely that he had actually acted in a manner that warranted this type of abuse.

When he approached the situation, he realized he needed to decide if he was going to attempt to solve this problem with some communication skills or if he was just going to wade in and kick some ass. Zell intelligently decided that, since he was currently on more of an undercover fact finding mission he would attempt to reason with them before he would resort to beating some booty.

The first thing that was said to Zell when he joined the small incongruent group was by a soldier. "Hey, kid! What'd you want? Get out of here!"

The other soldier commented, "Hey, nice outfit, kid. Don't you know it's cold out here?"

Zell placed his right arm around the shoulders of the first soldier and forced him away from the other soldier and the well dressed gentleman without seeming to strain at all and leaving the Galbadian feeling as though he was leaving of his own volition.

Zell spoke quickly and barely above a whisper causing the soldier to have to learn forward and pay strict attention, while also causing Zell to sound slightly sinister. "Do you happen to see this tattoo on the side of my head?" When the soldier nodded, Zell continued, "Do you know what it stands for?"

The soldier shook his head in the negative. Zell spoke even lower. "It means I belong to." Here Zell mentioned the name of a super secret Galbadian police organization that was openly feared by everybody from the President of Galbadia on down. "And we've had this man under surveillance for quite a long period of time. Now you are interfering with us, but I am willing to cut you some slack if you just wrap this up right now and take your partner and go on your way."

Zell had no idea what the soldier really thought, but he did what Zell requested with some alacrity and was soon hurrying down the Trabian boulevard with the other soldier.

The well dressed gentleman stepped forward and declared somewhat boisterously, while holding out his right hand, "I don't know what you did, but I really am in your debt."

"No prob!" Zell grinned, while wiping off his right hand on his blue shorts in preparation of shaking hands with the stranger. When Zell drew closer, he observed that the man may have looked financially prosperous, but in years he was beginning to edge toward middle age and he appeared rather pudgy around the waist.

"My name is Percy Weatherbottom," the man introduced himself. "And I'm president of this institution. Would you like to come in for a moment out of this cold for a slight refreshment and some conversation?"

Not being known for looking a gift horse in the mouth and having absolutely no idea at that time where else he should be looking, Zell accepted the invitation. After being seated in Mr. Weatherbottom's large office and having been served some hot chocolate, the beverage of his choice, Zell leaned forward resting his arms on his knees and inquired, "If you don't mind me asking, why were those soldiers leaning on you like that?"

The genial banker took a sip of his coffee, set it back on the saucer that rested on his desk and sat back in his large chair. "I really can't say, because they hadn't really gotten to what they wanted, but it seemed they were upset about some things I had been overheard saying about the present hostage situation."

"Oh?" the young SeeD interjected, striving to keep his expression neutral.

"You do know about that, don't you?" Mr. Weatherbottom asked.

"Yeah," Zell nodded. "I've heard about little else since my arrival here."

"Haha! Yes, we don't usually have much to talk about that's new around here. So as I was saying, I was overheard discussing that I thought part of the difficulty was that Bill Wilson knew something about that mining disaster that his brother didn't want known and that was part of the reason why the local government and the Galbadians had been dragging their feet on this. I guess the powers-that-be got wind of this somehow and sent them to caution me. I suppose I should be more circumspect in the future. Well, no harm done. How have you been finding our fair city since your arrival?"

The next few minutes were spent in small talk and then Zell excused himself citing afternoon appointments. He thought the banker looked relieved, as he was probably trying to think up a way to get Zell out of his office now that the danger had passed and his adrenaline had died down.

_ Hot damn! _ the excitable SeeD thought on his way through the bank back to the street. _ Wait 'til Squall hears this! _

* * *

Squall had decided that his investigative skills were totally lacking as he was so easily identifiable, even in the far wilderness town of Trabia due to his hero status from the time of battling Ultimecia. So instead of attempting to inquire around town, he went to visit Robert Wilson in his downtown mining office. Squall noticed, when he was shown into Wilsons' office by one of his very attractive office assistants, that Wilson appeared frustrated to see him so soon after their initial introduction, but he covered it quickly. The dark-haired man didn't blame the mining entrepreneur; if he were Wilson he wouldn't have wanted to see him coming after such a short time either.

After the false, but politically correct, greeting ceremony, Squall sat in the chair proffered to him. "Any luck yet?" Wilson smiled slightly.

The commander stared back stoically. "No, nothing yet," answered Squall. _ As I bet you already know, you son of a bitch! _

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, if I may?" the dark-haired man inquired politely. _ I'd like to throttle you until the truth fell out the side of your head! That's what I'd like to do. _

"Fire away," answered Robert Wilson.

_ Don't tempt me, _ Squall thought. "Thank you," he said. "This position you hold here, is it something to do with the embassy?"

"No, I'm a quasi-link between the Galbadian government and also the Galbadian business interests here in Trabia and the Trabian government and their business community."

Squall nodded his understanding. "Are you an elected offical or appointed?"

The Galbadian flashed Squall a perfectly empty smile and responded, "Oh, no, we're appointed. It's a perfectly thankless job, but it's a way of offering thanks and giving something back to Galbadia."

The commander understood that this was more than just a slight mangling of the truth. It was an all out annihilation. Businessmen, such as, Robert Wilson donated huge sums of money to both parties in hopes of securing a political appointment as this one. His official title as government liaison between the Galbadia and Trabia governments also gave him a large advantage in his business dealings in Trabia, not to mention the power he welded locally with the threat of the nation of Galbadia standing firmly behind him.

"What exactly do you do?" the dark-haired man questioned further.

Wilson flushed as irritation crossed his features momentarily. "I just told you," he spoke with some testiness in his voice. "I serve as a liaison, now what can I specifically help you with?"

Squall inwardly smiled, finally having managed to crack the man's thin veneer of civilized behavior. "How much time do we have before the terrorists begin executing people?"

"Until six o'clock tonight."

"Then we haven't got much time. I need to speak with the leader of 'Freedom Now' in hopes of extending the time limit."

"No," said the Galbadian politician firmly.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Squall asked icily.

"You heard me," Wilson riposted. "I said no. Deling City quite pointedly said we are not to deal with the terrorists at any cost. It would set a bad precedent."

"And I suppose that forty dead hostages will set a good precedent," Squall responded angrily. A sudden light of comprehension entered the commander's eyes. "Oh, I get it now," he said. "You hired SeeD to be the fall guy. You expect us to fail under the conditions you set up for us and then we take the blame in world opinion."

Standing up and striding toward the door, Squall declared, "We just might surprise you yet. There's still time enough to talk these people into some kind of agreement." And he slammed the door shut as he passed into the outer office. Behind him, Wilson continued to sit as his desk, smirking slyly at Squall's back. _ Maybe I've underestimated him. He's smarter than he looks, _ thought the Galbadian.

Squall approached the desk of one of the administrative assistants in the outer office and cleared his throat. The young woman in question looked up and asked, "Yes, may I help you?"

Squall noticed she had sensual but intelligent features, wore her dark hair very long, and was dressed in a tasteful business suit. He turned on the full wattage of his smile.

"I centainly hope so," the dark-haired man responded. "Mr. Wilson told me if I needed any information that you would be the person for me to see."

"He did?" the young woman questioned, puzzled. "I didn't even know he knew I was alive."

"Oh, no," Squall insisted, fully hating his dishonesty but realizing it was for a good cause. "On the contrary, he spoke very highly of you."

The young ebony-haired woman blushed and responded, "What can I help you with?"

"Is there somewhere we could talk? This is a delicate matter, if you know what I mean."

"Surely," the young woman replied. "I'm due for my break now. We can go out and get a cup of coffee."

As the young woman stood up from behind her desk and Squall helped her on with her heavy winter coat, he couldn't help but notice she had a superb figure. After leaving the office building and walking quickly down a half of block, the young woman led Squall into an attractive looking coffee shop. She sat at a table near the back, while Squall went and ordered two coffees, bringing them back to the table five minutes later.

After giving the young woman one of the coffees, Squall sat down across from her.

"I'm Alecia Roberts," the raven-haired young woman introduced herself, while holding her hand out to shake.

Taking her hand in his for a second and feeling the genuine heat rising from it, Squall glanced up in her face, feeling momentarily confused. The young woman smiled sweetly at him and arched an eye brow. Squall dropped her hand as it were on fire and felt instantly guilty with a vision of Rinoa flashing in his head.

Squall hated that he felt himself blushing and understood that the young woman was secretly amused at his being flustered in her presence. _ That's alright, _ thought the young man. _ Maybe I can use this some way to my advantage. _

"Excuse me," he said. "I've just never been around such beauty before."

"Yeah, right," Alecia replied, but her gentle tone and genuine warm smile belied the sarcasm usually implicit in that statement.

Squall smiled in return. "Mr. Wilson said that you would be able to help me."

"You said that before," the young woman replied. "So what do you want help with specifically?"

"Is there anything you can tell me that would help us, if it comes down to us having to storm the embassy in an attempt to save the hostages?"

Alecia was throughtful for a few moments. "I hesitate to mention this because I'm assuming that Mr. Wilson already told you all the details of the blueprint of the building."

When Squall silently shook his head, the young woman appeared more than a little alarmed. "He hasn't?" she asked. "That's odd," Alecia went on to say in a thoughtful manner. After another minute, the young woman continued. "There's a hidden passageway into the basement that could bring you upstairs right outside the door of the room we believe the hostages are being held in. Here, let me draw you a little map of the place."

A few minutes later, the full bodied young woman handed him the napkin that she had drawn the plans for the building on. "Here, this should help you some." Alecia flashed him a sudden smile.

"I can't thank you enough," Squall responded graciously.

The woman with the long dark hair suddenly leaned across the table and clutched Squall's right hand. "Cut out the bullshit! You just get in there and save those people," she hissed.

Alecia sat back in her seat and smiled sweetly at the slightly stunned Squall. "Now finish your coffee and let's go. I have to get back to the office."

On the way walking her back to her job through the swirling snow flurries, Squall realized the young woman was sharp and that his smarmy approach hadn't fooled her at all. _ If anything ever happens between me and Rinoa, I'll have to remember to look this lady up, _ the dark-haired man thought.

Once they reached her building, Squall bid her adieu, watched until she entered safely and set off on his way to the Galbadian Embassy. 


	3. Fortune's Hostage - Chapter Three

Fortune's Hostage

Final Fantasy VIII fan fic

By Robertdogwood@aol.com

Final Fantasy VIII characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.

Rated R

Chapter Three

It was long past dusk. In fact, it was quite dark out because of the intense cloud cover that almost completely blotted out any light from the moon and the stars. The three young men sat in their hotel room voraciously partaking of the takeout Shumi food that Irvine had acquired.

Squall had just finished his report on what had occurred when he attempted to contact the 'Freedom Now' leader to negotiate a possible time extension being granted. The commander informed his charges that when he arrived at the embassy building there were Galbadian Army soldiers four and five rows deep blocking the building from approach on all four sides.

"So basically there wasn't anything you could do?" asked Irvine, but actually stating the obvious.

"Nope," Squall answered, shaking his head. "There was absolutely nothing I could do."

"Grrr," Zell actually growled to Irvine's amusement. "Those bastards make me mad as hell!"

Squall cautioned, "Zell, calm down," while Irvine laughed and interjected, "Throw him some raw meat!" Zell shot Irvine a nasty look, but explained, "Squall, wait 'til you hear what I found out!"

"Listen, I want to talk about what everybody found out, but I need to speak with Cid first. If I don't call him, you know he'll get worried and I need to call now, before it gets much later because of the time difference."

Squall retrieved the Garden's special cell phone and began the long tedious process of calling the Garden, which started with contacting the local Trabia operators and finally culminated in utilizing the Estharian communication satellites.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, the phone at the other end of the line began to ring. It just rang and rang. _ It's just like Cid to be very worried about something and then leave his cell phone at his desk, _ Squall thought greatly exasperated. Just when the dark-haired man thought he was going to have to hang up and attempt the call later, someone picked up the other end of the line.

Squall could hear the thousands of miles of dead air humming in his ear. _ It has to be Cid, _ he thought. _ Anybody else would have said hello by now. _

"Hello, anybody there?" the young man finally asked.

"Hello, hello," a voice from the other end squawked.

"Cid, is that you?" the commander asked patiently, knowing that it was. "This is Squall, Cid."

"Squall? Did you say this was Squall?"

_ Hyne, he must really be upset about this. He's never near this bad. _ "Yes, Cid This is Squall," he repeated again.

"Yes Squall, go ahead with your report," the head master requested almost formally, making an effort to emotionally pull himself together. Standing beside him, Rinoa waited breathlessly for her opportunity to speak with her beloved.

"Yes sir," Squall replied. The young man reported everything that had occurred since their arrival in Trabia. He realized that some vital piece of information, that only the headmaster was aware of, was causing Cid great concern and consternation, so Squall attempted to keep his report businesslike and devoid of any emotional overtones and delivered it in a monotone voice in an effort to help the headmaster remain calm.

An effort which apparently failed as Cid launched into a series of questions the answers to which Squall had already assiduously covered in his initial detailed account. But the commander did not offer any complaints and instead good naturedly answered each question that the headmaster broached.

Suddenly Cid muttered into his cell phone, "Well, keep up the good work and keep me posted," to which Squall promised he would immediately upon any further developments.

The headmaster clicked off his cell phone and turned to say something to Rinoa. When he observed the expression of disappointment on her face, he suddenly became aware that, in all his concerns and worries, he'd forgotten Rinoa was waiting to speak with Squall.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my dear. I forgot all about it," Cid confessed.

Rinoa was in such a fragile emotional state that she felt the tears welling up in her eyes but, realizing that Cid was presently in more pain that she, the young woman was able to force herself to remain appearing pleasant.

"Oh, that's okay, Cid," she lied. "I'll talk to him when he comes back and that'll be soon enough."

"Are you sure Rinoa? I can try to call him back," the headmaster offered.

Rinoa suddenly had a vision of how long that would take and then to have Cid hovering over her, while she attempted to speak to Squall of highly personal matters and decided the whole thing just couldn't be worth that.

"Come," the dark-haired woman, invited, wrapping her arm through one of Cid's. "Let's get out of this depressing office."

* * *

It was an hour before daybreak. Squall's interior clock woke him before the alarm clock by the side of his bed could perform the same function. He leaned over and turned it off before it could wake the others. He wanted a few minutes alone before he woke them. He got up out of bed, stretched and went to the bathroom to perform his morning duties.

After they had eaten dinner the night before, Squall allowed time for each of them to explain and discuss what they had learned during their travels in Trabia during the day. It had become quite clear to the three young men that Robert Wilson was seriously involved in this whole fiasco and that it wasn't a coincidence that he had been assigned to assist them.

_ Hell! _ thought Squall. _ He probably begged for it. _

Always the impetuous one, Zell was all for going over to Wilsons' residence and confronting him with his mendaciousness, but the commander demurred citing there was no reason to play _ Triple Triad _ with an open hand, when they didn't have to.

Irvine had laughed aloud, while Zell attempted to reason out that statement and Squall had sent them to bed soon after. Since they were scheduled to meet Robert Wilson at dawn in front of the embassy, Squall hurriedly dressed and then woke the others. The dark-haired man had realized they needed to wait until daylight to go in when one of the Galbadian troops had informed him on the preceding day that the Trabian officials had cut the power to the lights and heat hoping to convince the radicals to exit the building. Squall realized all it accomplished was to increase the hostages' chances of not surviving the ordeal.

Since Zell and Irvine dressed quickly, the three of them were able to leave their room earlier than expected. Eschewing the offical Galbadian transportation provided by Wilson, Squall elected to travel to the embassy by taxi. The three of them sat crammed together in the back seat, while the commander spoke in low tones outlining their strategy.

Arriving fifteen minutes earlier than expected, Squall thought the Galbadian politician appreared a little flustered as his face was flushed when he spoke. "Well, this is a surpise. I didn't expect you so early. What happened to the ride I sent over?"

"We didn't need it," Zell responded harshly. "In fact, we have come to expect very little from you concerning anything."

Since Wilson had surrounded himself with a squadron of Galbadian troops for the occasion, the commander didn't feel as though he wanted to involve themselves with this man in a _ pissing contest, _ so he stepped up and cautioned Zell to say no more.

But before Squall could offer further direction, Irvine spoke to Wilson. "Don't think we don't know what's really going on here."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about!" the Galbadian exclaimed in a shrill tone.

The tall cowboy moved in much closer to Wilson and grabbed him by the collar of his very expensive fur-lined winter coat. "Listen here," he spoke menacingly. "You drilled that new shaft realizing it would flood the mine. But you didn't care. Because you, and only you, knew the mine's output was beginning to slow down and it would be completely petered out in less than three months. So you took out a big insurance policy on it and then drilled the shaft and waited for the disaster to strike."

Irvine drew a breath. "Unfortunately when it was flooded a lot of men died. Somehow you hadn't counted on that, but I suppose you figured you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. You paid those men's wives and families a pittance and then you were home free, weren't you? Except for one thing - your brother found out. He was abhorred by it, wasn't he? From all accounts that I could discover, he was an honest, decent man - unlike you. And what did he want? Your brother probably wanted you to return the insurance money and make good the restitution with the miners' familes, didn't he? And now you were between a rock and a hard place. You couldn't shut your brother up and you didn't want to return the money. And then providence struck. Your brother was abducted by 'Freedom Now.' All you had to do was hamper his being rescued. You're lower than scum," Irvine spat out.

"None of this is true," Wilson whined. "And besides you can't prove any of it."

Irvine flushed bright red and trembled slightly from his increasing anger. "I don't have to prove it," he explained. "Everyone in Trabia will know all about it by the time this thing is over."

The Galbadian official screeched. "No one in Trabia will believe you! They know me, I live here. Besides, I'll take you to court for defamation of character. You'll end up owning me money for the rest of your little piss ant life."

The dam broke on the last bit of control Irvine had retained over his anger and he struck Wilson over his left eyebrow with his thundering right hand knocking him soundly to the ground. Sitting stunned on the ground for the minute it took him to clear his head, the Galbadian suddenly exclaimed to the troops standing behind him and pointing his right arm at the Garden cowboy, "Arrest that man!"

The Galbadian troops, having heard all of the conversation, didn't appear to have much inclination towards following Wilsons' order and attempting to detain Irvine, although it all became acadmic as the tall sharpshooter pulled out his huge weapon, _ Exeter, _ from beneath his long cattleman's coat and pointed it directly at the Galbadian villain!

"Try me," the cowboy almost pleaded, wanting just one excuse to shoot the man.

"Let's go," Squall ordered curtly.

Clambering to his feet quickly, Wilson exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Where are you going? The way in is right here!"

Squall looked at him blankly. "We know the way in and if you and your troops know what's good for you, you'll stay out of the building," he threatened tonelessly, but deadly sounding all the more.

Squall turned and sprinted around the side of the building, closely followed by Zell and Irvine. Quickly reaching their destination, which was a secret passage that was accessed by clearing the cellar doors of the leaves and other debris that hid it readily from sight, Zell and Irvine each lifted up a door and the three Garden operatives quickly scrambled down the wooden steps into the embassy's basement.

Having memorized the map that was given to him by Alecia, Squall led his charges without difficulty through the convoluted basement hallways and onto the first floor. Directing Irvine to guard the front doors with orders to shoot to kill any intruders or members of 'Freedom Now' attempting to leave, Squall then led Zell to outside the room that it was believed the hostages were being held in.

Squall stood beside Zell outside an ornate mahogany door. As the dark-haired man watched Zell standing poised on the balls of his feet, Squall realized there was no one who he trusted more in a fight than the excitable young blond-haired man.

They stood in the elaborate interior with its very large hallways, marbled floors, famous clssical paintings hanging from the walls and high ceiling chandeliers and Squall realized that his overriding emotions were conveying the tinges of tragedy to him. The commander wasn't superstitious, but he didn't like it. Squall gave himself a slight shake to try to rid himself of the unwanted emotions. This was Rinoa's thing, precognition; not his, but he assumed it was so quiet because the hostages were all dead.

Shivering slightly in the cold of the dawn, because of the power and heat being discontinued, Squall thought, _ It's now or never. _ The commander nodded slightly at Zell.

When the young blond SeeD lowered his shoulder to crash through the heavy door, Squall quickly positioned himself behind in order to have an unimpeded view of the entire room once the door was brought down. The taciturn young man stood with _ Lionheart _ drawn and held in his right hand. He watched coolly as Zell successfully battered the door down.

Moving quickly, the two SeeDs raced through the now unprotected doorway and into the next room, with Squall taking the entire room in with a single glance.

* * *

Despite it now being the middle of the night, sleep had proven to be elusive to the distraught Rinoa. Oh, how she wished she could have spoken to Squall on the phone and gotten this over with.

On their way back to their bed rooms after hanging out until late at the new club in Timber, Selphie and Quistis noticed the light still burning in their ebony-haired friend's room and, despite the lateness of the hour, knocked on her door and invited themselves in.

Truth to be told, they both felt guilty over not being able to meet with her in the morning as she had requested. The two young women were seated on Rinoa's bed now, with their friend sitting against the head of the bed with a plethora of pillows behind her back.

Selphie asked, "So there's absolutely no way that the Doctor could be mistaken?"

Rinoa shook her head and replied, "No, plus I already knew before I went. I sensed it."

"Well, why the long faces?" Quistis demanded. "This is an happy occasion, isn't it?"

"I certainly hope Squall thinks so," Rinoa murmured.

* * *

It only took Zell and Squall a split second to absorb the fact that the room was surfeited with the carnage of bloody, slaughtered people laying in the obsene positions of violent death. The nauseating smell of drying blood hung over the mileu as a precursor of the tragic futility and awfulness of forty people being violently relieved of their earthly existence for absolutely no reason.

The scene that lay before him was so horrific that it caused Squall to act in a manner certainly not characteristic of him in the past. He stood completely stunned for a matter of seconds until he heard Zell explode, "Those bastards! Come on, Squall! They might still be in the building!" Zell ran through the room and out the far door.

"Zell, wait," he protested, fore Squall certainly understood that these people had been dead for hours; probably since a little after six o'clock the evening before.

Squall reached a decision that his time might be better served searching to discover if there were any survivors in this room of pure horror. Despite the bloody carnage, the dark-haired man began to search the room closely for any signs of someone still breathing, but initially his cause was of no avail. Suddenly Squall sensed, on a subliminal level rather than hearing or seeing, that there remained someone with life buried beneath the awful pile of corpses. Freezing his soul, the commander gritted his teeth and pulled a recently dead youngish blonde woman covered with blood off the top of the pile and began to reach further underneath in his search to find just one living person in this hellish heap of death.

Suddenly a thrill of hope rushed through Squall as adrenaline coursed his body as he felt something warm and moving. Plunging his hands further down into the nightmarish mound, the commander then hauled up a tow headed little boy, alive and well! A surge of emotion passed through Squall when he realized that, at least, someone had survived this hideous atrocity and it was a small child!

The normally repressed young man lifted the boy up and hugged him for a second. Comforted, the child, who looked to be around four years of age, ceased his crying and gazed into Squall's serious features and uttered, "Uncle Cid?"

Suddenly the dark-haired man understood it all. The young woman, who had thrown herself over the boy in a last ditch effort to save his life and the child, himself, were somehow related to Cid. Squall now comprehended the headmaster's motivation completely, although he discovered himself wishing Cid would have taken him into his confidence.

Hearing a noise, the commander quickly glanced behind him and realized it was Irvine standing in the doorway. He appeared horror struck at the grisly tableau that lay before him. Squall shook his head at him and Irvine nodded. The taciturn young man pointed his finger at the next room and the young cowboy went forward to retrieve Zell from wherever he might be at that particular moment.

Upon reaching the sidewalk, none of the three Garden operatives were surprised that the Galbadians had all vanished leaving them standing alone in the post-dawn weak sunlight. Upon being asked, the small child said his name was Coey, which was translated by Zell as being Corey. Irvine wrapped the tow headed little boy in his large coat, while Zell paced back and forth on the sidewalk like a caged tiger, cursing under his breath.

As Squall waited interminably on the cell phone for the appropriate phone connections to be made in order to report to Cid, Irvine cracked to Zell that he had a new shipment of raw meat he could have for breakfast, if he wanted it.

Zell had begun to respond negatively, when he suddenly became aware that the dark-haired commander was glaring at him and the exciteable SeeD immediately swallowed his comment, but made a promise to himself that he would get that smart ass cowboy back as soon as he could after arriving back at the Garden.

Thirty long minutes later the connection was finally made with the Garden and Squall once again was listening to thousands of miles of open line.

"Hello, Headmaster? Are you there?"

"Yes, Squall, I'm here. Anything to report?" Cid asked, his affect completely flat.

Squall rightly assumed the emotional flatness was born of the headmaster being awake all night. The commander proceeded to keep his voice neutral as he outlined for Cid the awful results of their assignment. Squall only detected some energy from the middle-aged man after he reported they had discovered a small child left alive.

"What's his name?" the headmaster demanded breathlessly.

After learning that, at least, his nephew had been left alive to him, Cid muttered, "Thank Hyne."

After discussing the final details, the headmaster offered his rare compliment. "You all did a fine job, Squall. It was the best anyone could have done under the circumstances. It was a set-up from the beginning. I knew that, but what could I do? It was my only sister and her son. I'll talk to you more after you get back." And Cid quickly broke the connection, before his voice broke as well.

Squall quickly explained to the rest of the party that the instructions from the Garden were to take a taxi to the outskirts of town, where they were to wait until the Ragnarok materialized. After using the cell phone and requesting a taxi, the taciturn man walked away from the others. Zell wanted to point out to their leader that quite possibly the Ragnarok arriving unannounced and not landing in legal airspace could be viewed as an Act of War, but when he recognized the solemn look on Squall's features, Zell realized his ideas would not be welcomed.

* * *

Two hours later, the three mercenaries and the small child, who was Cid's last living blood relative, were safely and, at last, warmly aboard the Ragnarok. Irvine was disappointed, to say the least, to discover the pilot for the Ragnarok was not Selphie, but instead another young female SeeD by name of Akane. But the tall cowboy changed his mind when he noticed her extremely pretty features, framed by her long dark hair and slim, but still rounded, figure.

_ She kinda reminds me of Rinoa, _ Irvine thought, as he stood chatting with her once the Ragnarok had acquired lift and was out of the immediate Trabian airspace.

Zell sat in a chair in the lounge area with his legs stretched out in front of him, with his eyes closed. He was not quite asleep, but also not quite conscious and the excitable SeeD finally was able to relax by intensely thinking or lightly dreaming of seeing Mina immediately upon reaching the Garden and everything he was going to tell her about the last twenty-four hours.

Squall sat in the very back row of the cabin with a detached appearance upon his features, which totally belied the whirlpool of conflicting feelings that swirled inside of him. The young commander sat holding the little boy in his lap. The child was curled up and holding Squall by the left hand and was soundly sleeping.

_ I guess Cid's got a new pigeon, _ Squall thought, rather sardonically.

* * *

Upon the Ragnarok landing just outside the Garden, which had since moved to Timber in preparation of a new assignment, Zell galloped out of the back door and, spotting Mina immediately, the excitable young man didn't stop until he was embracing her in his arms.

"Whoa, Dincht! What the heck happened out there?!" Mina exclaimed, while pushing him away from her.

Noticing that a number of SeeDs. who had gathered to welcome them back, were watching them amusedly, Mina flushed heavily and attempted to lead Zell away from the immediate vicinity.

"Come on Zell," the attractive young woman suggested. "Let's go inside the Garden where we can get some privacy," Mina elaborated, while attempting to take Zell by the hand to lead him away from this embarrassing situation. But he thwarted her by beginning to shadow box, bouncing all around her, while exclaiming, "You should've seen it, Mimi! It was really heavy! And I saved the guy who owns the Trabia Bank and everything."

"Zell!" Mina said in the tone that indicated to him she would book no further nonsense. He stopped bouncing immediately. "Good," she indicated. "Now let's go." And the two of them entered the Garden without further ceremony.

Stepping outside the Ragnarok, still holding the sleeping child in his arms, Squall witnessed the scene between Zell and Mina and shook his head ruefully. _ If only I had that much control over Zell, _ the dark-haired man thought.

Selphie hurried over to Squall and asked breathlessly, "Where's Irvine? Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine," Squall replied laconically, deigning not to divulge anything to the young woman concerning what Irvine was really involved with.

"Selphie, is something wrong with Rinoa?" the dark-haired man asked in a serious tone.

Squall wasn't positive but he thought Selphie looked uncomfortable with the question for a second, before she responded, "Oh, no, she's fine. I think she's got a touch of the flu or something."

"Ooh!" the diminutive SeeD gushed upon finally noticing Cid's nephew. "Isn't he cute? Squall, what have you been up to, anyway?" Selphie grinned.

Flushing heavily, the commander stuttered, "T - This is Cid's nephew."

The attractive brown-haired woman learned forward and patted Squall's arm. "I know that, I'm just teasing you. Now relax."

Just then Squall was very relieved to observe the young SeeD pilot exit the back of the ship followed closely by her new friend, Irvine.

"There's Irvine now," the commander pointed out to Selphie, hoping to distract her.

It apparently worked as the brown-haired woman glanced over and exclaimed, "Irvy! Are you ok?"

Irvine strode quickly to her and leaned down and offered a quick embrace. "Right as rain, now that I'm back with you." And the two young people strolled off together arm in arm.

Squall shook his head and thought, _ I just don't get it. A little while ago he was as furious as I've ever seen him and now look at him - not a care in the world. If I were to get that mad, It would take a year for me to get it back together. _

The young commander suddenly realized that Akane was standing squarely in front of him waiting to speak with him about something. He flushed at the thought of what he must have looked like standing there day dreaming.

"Commander Leonhart," the young SeeD began. "Headmaster Cid has asked me to bring his nephew to him as soon as possible upon our return to the Garden."

Squall nodded and handed the tow headed boy over to Akane, who must have been stronger than she looked as she held him easily in her arms.

"And," she continued, "he asked me to instruct you to report to him later on the final outsome of your mission, but first it is of the utmost importance that you speak with Ms. Heartilly."

She saluted Squall and, after he returned the salute, she turned and entered the Garden also carrying the small child with her.

_ Now what in the hell is going on here? _ Squall thought, feeling rather aggravated by this time. As the normally emotionally guarded appearing man hurried through the Garden on the way to the women's dormitories, his thoughts were agitated. _ Why would Cid be involved with Rinoa having the flu? And why is that more important than me reporting to him? I'm beginning to think that this whole affair with his sister and nephew has unhinged his sanity. _

Suddenly discovering himself standing in front of Rinoa's door, Squall knocked lightly, assuming if she were truly sick, she may not wish to be disturbed at the present time.

"Who is it?" Rinoa called out from inside the room.

_ Funny, she doesn't sound sick in the slightest. Maybe she's over the worst part and what does this have to do with her wanting to talk to me before we left? She wanted to tell me she was getting the flu? _

As female underclassmen were passing in the corridor, some of whom were looking at the presence of Squall in the women's dorm with askance and slight fear, as they were so new to the Garden they didn't recognize his position, he decided to forego the inevitable 'It's me, darling' farce and attempt to open the door. It opened easily and he quickly stepped inside the room.

Discovering it was Squall who had entered her room uninvited, Rinoa sat up quickly in her bed, the bedcovers falling away revealing the rather transparent nightgown she had worn for the occasion of welcoming him home. The ebony-haired beauty leaped up from the bed easily and crossed the small room in three steps. As the young couple embraced, Rinoa explained, "I'm so relieved you're back. I heard just enough from Cid to know how rough that could have been. I've never seen Cid so upset. What happened out there anyway?"

For the next several moments Squall mostly answered with his embrace, but was finally able to share verbally some of what had occurred and ended with news of saving Cid's young nephew.

Rinoa stepped back from their embrace. "I'm proud of you Squall. You did all that was possible, you brought everyone back unharmed and you saved that little boy's life."

The dark-haired man, as usual, ducked his head away from receiving a compliment for the moment. When Squall looked back, he casually mentioned, "I heard that you haven't been feeling well since we've been gone. It's nothing serious, is it?"

"I'm pregnant," Rinoa whispered. Squall appeared taken aback for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. He leaned forward and kissed her gently, while offering a hug as his answer.

"I'm sorry," the ebony-haired woman expressed. "I know how you felt about us having children right away."

"Shhh," Squall answered, while placing his forefinger up to her lips. "It'll be fine and hopefully we can do a better job than our parents did."

"Oh, Squall," Rinoa murmured, "I _ so _ want this baby," as Squall continued to hold her in a manner that indicated he might never let her go.

The End

A/N I, once again, would like to thank the great writer and even greater human being and friend, Raine Ishida, for her most generous and gracious permission for me to use her character of Mina. Please check out Raine's profile page NOW! 


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